Obituaries Australia

Mr. W. A. W. [Wilfred Alexander Watt] de Beuzeville, a former Government geologist in the Forestry Commission, died at a Kiama hospital on Saturday last, aged 72.

He was recognised as one of the Commonwealth's ablest forestry officers.

Mr. de Beuzeville was appointed Forest Guide at Warialda in 1912.

Two years later he became forest assessor at Baradine, where he under took an important survey of timber stands.

He was appointed to the head office of the Forestry Department in Sydney in 1920, and later served the Forestry Commission as forester at Wyong, Tumbarumba, and Tumut.

He became senior forester in 1925, and took up duties at head office in 1928.

From that time forward he was stationed at head office. During this period he became the State's first ecologist, retiring in 1948.

Mr. de Beuzeville's services were made available to the C.S.I.R.O. between 1930 and 1934. He designed banana farms on the North Coast in 1933.

Climatic data, which he collected on visits to Queensland and Victoria in 1935, has proved of remarkable value in forestry developments.